The alternative

The recent political fiascos have caused me to watch even less TV
and avoid the radio. Seems like every Democrat running for president
has nothing but bad things to say our current president and not any
real solutions. Nothing new there, it’s politics.

So I have been outside more thinking I’d watch the ice melt off some
some of the plants. Problem with that is it’s a slow process as it
hasn’t been above freezing lately. It has to warm up some time and
I’ll be ready.

Earlier I looked out and saw a young possum drinking from the cats
water bowl, went to grab the camera, and came back only to discover
the critter had his fill and took off. Maybe next time.

The feral cats have me stumped as they sit and watch squirrels eat
the bird food and don’t go after said squirrels. Even odder, these
same cats watch the birds eat the cat food! They must figure we’re
made of cat food.

At any rate we’ll keep taking pictures while figuring out a new
angle on how to drive the neighbors to distraction. I was thinking
if I took a bucket of soapy water and mopped the driveway they might
stop asking to borrow things. Worth a shot.

Enjoy our Wednesday as it means we’re half-way through the work
week and closer to the weekend. Now for some coffee and pizza rolls
to keep me going.
Comments are always welcome.

Still at it

As an unemployed squirrel watcher old habits die hard and the little
critter above caught my attention. Just appeared to be in hurry but
got near the big oak tree and sat in the snow. He put on a good show
while it lasted.

And this one had a ball running all around the oak tree before
coming to rest right above where a limb had been cut off a few years
ago. This was either a small squirrel or a very young one and I got
wore out watching run around.

This morning I went over to Dads and he’d already had his breakfast
so I got him another cup of coffee and we talked. He talked again of
the winter of 1936 and how the county didn’t plow the gravel roads
so the farmers went out with scoop shovels and cleared the road.

He then talked of the summer of 1937 and how it was so hot they had
to work the horses at night as it was cooler. He said horses don’t
sweat and if you worked them during hot days they’d just keel over
and die. And he talked about sleeping on the porch because the house
stayed to hot to sleep in.

The old Johnny Popper John Deeres came up again and we both
admitted we like the sound they make. We talked of other things but
we’ll save them for a later post.

Enjoy our Tuesday as we will. Now for more coffee.
Comments are always welcome.

Still distracted

When I went out Saturday morning these tracks were in the snow near the sidewalk. Leads me to believe the raccoons are back. It was quite a day and got so busy I forgot to post.

Also saw this critter looking for a bite to eat. He stayed there for
a while, had a snack, and moved on.

This little lady was also having lunch and tried to hide the fact
she had her mouth full. It still made for a good picture.

This guy stood out perched on a volunteer tree with the backdrop
of a snowy roof. It was almost as if he was glowing. It was a bit
windy yet he held on and didn’t fly off.

He ignored the cat and seemed focused on me as I snapped the
pictures. At one point he was looking right at me as I
focused. Made me glad I remembered the camera.

While all that was going on Patches the feral cat looked on from a
safe distance. She almost looked amazed that the bright, tasty
looking bird could be so close yet so far away.

Yeah, when I get distracted I go all out. Still thought it was
worth the time to go out and a few shots to share. Enjoy the rest
of our Monday as tomorrow I head over to Dads first thing for a
visit.

Comments are always welcome.

Sunday snicker

I saw this one online but don’t remember the site. It gave me a
chuckle so here it is-

A nun had a job as a home health aide. She was driving through
downtown after a job and ran out of gas. She went to the trunk for
a gas can but the only thing she could find was a bedpan.

She took the bedpan to the closest gas station and filled it with
gas.. She was soon back at the car, opened the gas cap and began to
pour the contents of the bedpan into the gas tank.

Two gentlemen, walking on the other side of the street, looked at
the nun and one said to the other, “if that car starts I’m turning
Catholic.”

Of good days

Yesterday the birds thought it was great too. We were gifted with
over 2 inches of white fluffy love from above with slightly warmer
temperatures and even the shoveling was not a problem. It was just a
perfect winter day.

Today we got the errands run and more shoveling done before I took
the wife to a local place to eat. If you haven’t been to the Steel
Plow you should give a try. I would recommend the bison burger and the wife now likes the seafood mac and cheese. Both were great.

Now that all that’s done we have a little more snow in the forecast.
Less than inch isn’t a problem for us as the car has all-wheel-drive
and I know how to use the shovel. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

The feral cat I brought indoors during the cold has gotten used to
being inside and has become friendlier than it was outside. With a
little more time to adjust we think she’ll do well. I believe the
wife named her “Missy”.

Enjoy the rest of our Friday as here locally there’s an indoor car
show at the Expo Center this weekend. Think we’ll pass this time.
Now for some coffee and pizza rolls.
Comments are always welcome.

Some days…

Every time I tried to post yesterday it got interrupted so today I’m
just going to get it done. I went over to Dads but stopped to take in
the view above before arriving. I needed a little calming down.

So then I hear the Governor wants to give us a tax cut on our state
income tax. Every time I hear such a statement I cringe. Sure enough,
the state wants to “give” us a tax cut but is looking at raising our
sales tax. Be nice if we got a cut some time that didn’t get added
right back on somewhere else.

Today we learned our city wants to raise our property taxes 4.37%.
The city is going to have a meeting early next month to explain why
and answer the publics questions. I’m still working on getting them
to quit plowing shut the end of our alley AFTER we shovel it.

And for the next 2 days we’re forcast to get some white fluffy love
from above. Not supposed to amount to much here on the east of Iowa and be a light snow. That’s better than the ice covered snow we have now. If it stays in the 30s some of the white stuff might just melt away on its own.

Some days it gets crazy while other days are boring.

So enjoy the weather as we can’t change it anyway and have a great
Wednesday night. Now for more coffee and some pizza rolls.
Comments are always welcome.

Not a Sunday snicker

This isn’t going to be a Sunday snicker but will be a tale with a
moral. And it started after the snow, sleet, and freezing rain moved
elsewhere while the clean up began. So here’s the story.

I went out to feed the feral cats and as I was emptying the ice out
of the water bowl to put fresh water in it the feral cat that wants
to get petted all the time approached. I finished the water and put
out food before petting said cat.

The cat then moved away limping on one front paw. This is the only
one of the bunch that spends most of the time outside by herself. So
I wondered if her paw had frostbite as I neared her again. I thought
a little time inside to warm up might fix her problem.

So as I petted her I picked her up and moved slowly toward the porch
door and everything was going fine until the storm door slammed once we were in. I hugged her tighter against my jacket so as not to get clawed. I opened the door to the house, and again everything was fine.

Until… that storm door slammed shut and she managed to claw my
face! Since we were inside now I dropped the cat and ran my fingers
across my face and they came back bloody. So into the bathroom I go
to wash the cuts and put iodine on them.

The wife managed the pet the cat who went under the kitchen table
and even held her for short time before the cat took off like her
tail was on fire. So now I have four slashes by my mustache and a
cat we can’t find. But she’s warm.

If there was a moral to this tale I guess it would be to remember
these critters are wild animals and won’t react like house pets do.
Even after getting scratched I’d do it again before watching an
animal suffer.

Enjoy our snicker free Sunday. Now for more coffee.
Comments are always welcome.

Finally….

You may have noticed I haven’t been here since the start of the week
and I apologize. While the bug on the computer is gone I caught one
myself and am just now getting over it. Sometimes things just hit
us when we aren’t expecting them.

This was a strange experience as I went from sleeping around four
hours a night to sleeping twenty! Hope the old sleeping schedule comes back soon. Posts haven’t been written, chores haven’t been done, and snow hasn’t been shoveled.

But being on the mend feels pretty good. And I’d like to thank the
wife, who I know worries about me, for putting up with me when I am
sick. I am not a cheerful person to be around during such times. So
thank you dear.

Between yesterday and today we got around 5 inches of white fluffy
love from above, some sleet, and topped it off with freezing rain. I
did manage to get outside and get a path to car shoveled and the car
cleared last night before the wife went to work.

Today went out and tried to do some more but that didn’t end well. Have you ever tried to shovel ice? Felt like the shovel was full of car batteries. On that happy note I’ll end this and wish everyone well. Now for some more coffee before I get to the chores.
Comments are always welcome.

Ups and downs

My desktop computer is acting up like it has a bug or something but
I’m hesitant to do a scan as it takes so long. Last time it took
almost 2 days. May not have a choice but have been trying to resolve
the issue.

The sunrise along with my coffee made a great start the other
morning as both were perfect. The hot coffee and cool weather
outside made for a great start to the day.

Same day the tabby came and sat in the snow like she wanted her
picture taken and I couldn’t refuse. She looked almost regal in this
setting. Yes, the snow is over exposed but I still like how the cat
turned out.

This cat is the one that looks like a Main coon and with all the fur
appears bigger than he actually is. That doesn’t stop him from
getting into some spats with the other cats, at times double his
size!

Finally, this picture just took me by surprise. There are no
modifications to it except I downsized it. As mentioned before I have
no Photoshop or Lightroom type editor for the special effects. Just
different camera settings to make thing interesting at times.

Going over to visit Dad tomorrow and will do a post after I return
as the goofy demon box we call a computer is working again. It’s a
little slow but we can live with that while the problem gets fixed.

Enjoy our Monday night as we will. Now for some coffee and chips.
Comments are always welcome.

Sunday snicker

At last, the long-awaited finale of the televised poem competition had arrived.

The pope, who was a keen lyricist and writer of poems, had to everyone’s surprise entered the competition. He immediately announced that he would only be reciting poems about personal spiritual experiences. Despite this limitation, it turned out he was gifted with words and he had made it all the way to the final. His opponent was the favorite to win: a Harvard linguistics professor on the top of his career and with a mind as sharp as a knife’s edge.

The Harvard professor was up first. He was informed of the rules: “Two minutes to come up with a poem, and it must involve Timbuktu.” The clock started, and when the time was up the Harvard professor approached the microphone:
“On my way through desert sand
Met a lonely caravan
Men on camels, two by two
Destination: Timbuktu.”

The crowd went wild. Commentators were lyrical. This was without a doubt the best poem of the competition. The Harvard professor had done it again! But as the crowd settled down their spirits sank. As far as anyone knew, the pope had never been to Timbuktu, which was soon confirmed by the TV commentator. How could the pope have a personal spiritual experience with such a word?!

The elderly pope was walked to the stage and informed of the same rules: “Two minutes to come up with a poem, and it must involve Timbuktu.” The clock was started, but after only a short thought the pope stopped it. Everybody in the competition had used all the provided time, and as the pope approached the microphone a sigh went through the audience. Was he withdrawing from the competition? Would it all end in anti-climax?

No, to everybody’s surprise the pope started to recite his poem based on personal spiritual experience:
“Me and Tim to Brisbane went
Met some ladies, cheap to rent.
They were three and we were two,
So I bucked one, and ‘Tim-bucked-two.'”